For many years, the Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol (MMSP) at Stowe has quietly claimed to be the oldest ski patrol in the United States.

In more recent years, other patrols have popped up making the same claim. One Vermont patrol took itself out of contention when they published a photo from the 1950s showing their patrollers standing in front of their first aid station. A nearly hidden sign behind them said, “Home of America’s second oldest patrol.” Scratch one claim. Others have also dropped their claim once presented with Stowe’s story.

It would appear that during the early 1930s the Schenectady Wintersports Club (SWC) established the first recognizable ski patrol in America. The club would take first aiders on their ski trains and even had special cars where they processed injured patients coming off the mountains. However, the SWC patrol did not last over the long term and has long been out of existence although the club itself continues to flourish. This fact gives the SWC bragging rights on being the first but it cannot claim to be the oldest.

Two months before the SWC patrol was in action and treating patients, the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club (MMSC) legally incorporated in Stowe on January 16, 1934. Embedded in the articles of incorporation was language stating that the MMSC was to promote “good health” and “All other facilities for recreation in winter.” This was the wording behind the creation of the MMSP.

The story that has come down over the years is that there had been a specific incident that provoked these sections to be included in the MMSC’s legal charter. Unfortunately, nobody agrees on many key details about what happened – or when. Participants later claimed that others weren’t there and nobody agreed on even the year of the accident. There are several versions of what happened.

In one widely accepted version a fellow named C. Minot (Minnie) Dole has fallen late in the day while descending the Toll Road trail in 1933. He had broken a bone in his leg and was unable to move. Well after dark, word finally arrived at the Ranch Camp “base lodge” of Dole’s injury. Rescuers Craig Burt Sr. and Frank Griffin began the long slog back up the mountain by the light of kerosene lanterns. They hauled along a piece of corrugated roofing tin on which they planned to drag the patient down the mountain. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Dole was finally removed from the mountain and delivered to a local doctor’s office.

Word quickly spread about Dole’s rescue. Suddenly, everyone realized that with the coming of ski trains from down country coupled with an increasing number of skiers, more accidents were inevitable. As a result, the above language was added into the MMSC articles of incorporation with the intention of doing something to make the sport safer.

Urgency was added to Dole’s incident when his close friend, Frank Edson, was killed in a skiing accident that should not have been fatal except for unskilled first aid that had been rendered at a ski area in southern New England. The MMSC took both Dole’s rescue and Edson’s death as a “call to arms.”

The problem is that Dole’s autobiography states this actually happened in 1936 which places the long-held story in some question. It now appears that Dole’s injury took place well after the Stowe ski patrol was created and his fall probably didn’t directly lead to the language in the Articles of Incorporation.

It is clear that in the winter of 1934, the newly incorporated MMSC appointed Frank Griffin to create a ski patrol — the MMSP. The other members of the committee assigned to assist Griffin differ somewhat based on which source document is reviewed. It would appear that the committee included Stowe’s famous skier/trail designer/surveyor/historian — Charlie Lord. Along with Griffin and Lord were Craig Burt, Sr., Bill Mason (local ski manufacturer), Roland Palmedo and Abner Coleman — plus several others.

Together with guidance from wealthy New Yorker Palmedo, they decided to organize the patrol loosely along the lines of Swiss Army rescue units. Palmedo had the personal assets to spend a great deal of time skiing in Europe during the 1930s where he had witnessed the Swiss Parsenne Patrol in action. Palmedo brought that knowledge to the committee as he had done in lectures to various U.S. ski clubs.

During the winter of 1934, Griffin and the others began to spread the word that the MMSP was being formed. Patches were designed and manufactured with volunteers picking them up at Griffin’s store (known as Turk’s) on Church Street in Burlington. These first patches were simple yellow triangles with crude blue lettering showing, “Ski Patrol.”

In one of Craig Burt, Sr.’s accounts he stated that, “The principal duties of a patrolman then [1934] were to inform skiing guests of trails that were right to their individual ability.” Eighty-two years later, there isn’t a ski patrol on the planet that doesn’t still offer this exact service as one of its duties.

In 1935, the MMSC authorized an expenditure of $50 to purchase corrugated metal roofing for toboggans, bandaging and splints. By the end of the 1935-36 season, the MMSP had volunteers, patches designating individuals as “ski patrollers” and limited first aid supplies. No documentation has yet been discovered regarding the level of training but most surviving accounts make it rather clear that training was not much of a priority beyond knowledge of the mountain and rudimentary first aid.

During this same season, the committee named Charlie Lord and Craig Burt Sr. to be Patrol Leaders. It was during this winter that these two men obtained Red Cross first aid certification. They created a new rule that only those who passed the Red Cross first aid course could be members of the MMSP. This decision quickly shrunk the size of the patrol and overnight made it a far more modern operation.

By the 1936-37 season, Al Gottlieb had taken over as the director of the MMSP and he set about the creation of a toboggan cache system. With the help of the Vermont Forest Service and the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, more than 30 well-stocked toboggan caches were built around Stowe – not just on Mount Mansfield.

On Mount Mansfield proper, Gottlieb secured permission from state forestry officials to use Fire Phones to report emergencies. This may very well have been the first ski patrol emergency phone system in North America.

In 1938, the National Downhill and Slalom races were brought to Stowe. Enter Frank Griffin once again, as he and the MMSC were instrumental in bringing such an important event to a mountain that still lacked a lift that could carry racers to the race course. Griffin contacted, Minnie Dole, who had become a regular at Stowe, and asked him to use his wide skiing experience to help further organize the patrol specifically for these National races. Dole later wrote, “Dave [Parsons] and I went to Stowe ten days before the races. We worked closely with members of the Mt. Mansfield [Ski] Patrol in laying out the stations for patrolmen and toboggans, so that each station would be within voice distance to the next. We established procedures for replacement of men and toboggans if one had to go down.”

During the race, in a conversation just above Shambles Corner (it’s still there) on the Nose Dive trail, Dole spoke with Roger Langley, president of the National Ski Association. According to Dole, Langley said, “This [MMSP] patrol set-up you have here today is terrific. We ought to do this on a national basis, will you do it?” Dole’s response was, “Without the slightest idea of the chew I was biting off I said, ‘Sure.’” Thus, out of that race’s impressively well-organized Mt Mansfield Ski Patrol grew the seed that eventually resulted in the creation of the famous National Ski Patrol (NSP).

Thus began a marriage with between the NSP and the MMSP that lasted until 1959 when disagreements broke out between the two entities. One specific debate had begun earlier over the use of a Thomas half-ring splint. There was also increasing friction resulting from the perception that the NSP national headquarters was issuing ill-conceived directives and guidelines — apparently by non-skiing administrators. The on-hill experience gained by the MMSP and advice from its own medical advisors were at odds with other NSP policies. Although several members of the MMSP had been near-charter members with double-digit membership numbers in the NSP, the organizations parted. (Although no longer connected, the mutual respect between the two organizations remains firmly in place.)

The MMSP’s ties to Minne Dole remained strong until his passing. Having founded the famed 10th Mountain Division of World War II, he was undoubtedly pleased to have the MMSP’s first paid patrolman, Fritz Kramer, become an early member of the division. Likewise, Erwin Lindner and George Wesson were both 10th Mountain veterans who later served as long-time patrol directors at Stowe. In addition, rank and file members of the MMSP who were 10th Mountain Division veterans included men such as Bob Cochran, Norm Richardson and Jack Colven.

It hadn’t been until 1940 when the MMSP had finally acquired its first paid patroller. With the building of the first chairlift at Stowe in 1940 everyone realized that skier traffic was about to explode. Everyone also realized that a patrol presence was needed every hour that the lift operated. The problem was that the resort simply didn’t have enough money to hire a patroller. Enter Perry Merrill, Vermont’s legendary commissioner of Forests and Parks. As a huge promoter of skiing in Vermont he recognized the problem. He offered to put a patroller on the state payroll so long as Charlie Lord would act as that patroller’s supervisor. Fritz Kramer was hired and spent the winter of 1940/41 living in the Stone Hut at the top of the lift. Once per week he came down for a shower and supplies.

Over the 82 years of its documented existence, the MMSP has invented a number of first aid techniques and devices for which it never received full credit outside the medical community. With the direction of surgeons at Vermont’s largest hospital, the MMSP invented and perfected the traction backboard. Likewise, it perfected the collapsible box splint for lower leg injuries. Military surplus toboggans were field modified and virtually every ski patrol in the U.S. now uses modern ones that incorporate those early designs using long handles and brakes for better control.

In 1960, an impressive first aid instructional movie was professionally filmed that provided 20 minutes of training scenarios on how the pros at the MMSP treated trauma injuries. It remains unclear how many other patrols learned some of their techniques from this film but it was probably dozens. Long time MMSP Dr. Bish McGill served as both the medical adviser on the film and as the patient in a number of the scenarios presented.

No history would be complete without mentioning the “Black Knights” of the MMSP. Over the years, the patrol has worn uniforms in color from robin’s egg blue to red to sky blue to black. Of all these, the black uniforms are probably the best remembered. It was during the black jacket years during the 1960s and 1970s that the nickname of the “Black Knights” originated.

Today’s MMSP carries on many long traditions that go back to the 1930s. The full attention and resolute professionalism that is required at every accident scene remains unchanged. The augmentation of the full-time patrollers continues with equally qualified volunteers arriving on weekends and during vacations.

One special feature that has never changed is the personality of the patrol. Since 1934, the members have not only come together as patrollers but also as close personal friends. Virtually the entire patrol then and now socializes together throughout the year. The laughter in the patrol rooms is non-stop and nothing is considered sacred – until the phone rings. When the dispatcher announces that “We have an incident” the room is inevitably and instantly silent as everyone prepares to respond.

A popular belief is still held that females did not join MMSP until 1976 when Gail Driscoll became the first full-time, paid, female, patroller. In fact, females have been patrollers at Stowe since the earliest days but Driscoll was the first to pass the dreaded toboggan test that previously had been deemed too difficult for any female. Driscoll broke the “glass ceiling” and a number of females have since passed the test.

Today, the Vermont Division of Emergency Medical Services licenses the MMSP as a First Responder Unit. Today’s MMSP is staffed by men and women with at least the EMT level of certification. The MMSP works very closely with Stowe Rescue that provides ambulance service from the base of the mountain, as well as with Stowe’s famous Mountain Rescue team.

The MMSP can hang its claim to be the oldest ski patrol in the U.S. based on a multitude of official and unofficial paper documents, as well as, first-hand accounts. It can also hang its claim on a specific written and signed statement by none other than C. Minot Dole, the founder of both the National Ski Patrol and the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. Dole wrote, “Having seen the Parsenn[e] Patrol in action, he [Roland Palmedo] together with Charlie Lord, Craig Burt [Sr.], Bill Mason, Ab Coleman, and others organized I believethe first ski patrol in this country.”

If you can’t trust Minnie Dole, whom can you trust?

Brian Lindner is the historian for Stowe Mountain Resort and longtime member of the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum. His father was the Ski Patrol director at Stowe 1943 to 1946. Lindner has worked as an instructor and ski patroller at Stowe since 1973. The original version of this article appeared in the fall/winter issue of Stowe Guide and Magazine and is reprinted with permission.

Exhibit at museum in Stowe

The history of the National Ski Patrol is a rich tapestry woven from thousands of stories of selfless service and deep camaraderie. While many people may know the basic story of its founding and recognize the name of Minnie Dole, few know that the creation of the National Ski Patrol was triggered by a confluence of events that began with an accident on Mount Mansfield in 1936, followed by a tragedy. These events planted a seed that grew and has flourished for over 75 years to become the world’s largest rescue organization, staffed primarily by volunteers.

The current main exhibit at the Vermont Ski and Snowboard museum, located in the Perkins Building at the intersection of Vermont 100 and Vermont 108 in the historic Stowe Village, tells these stories and more. The exhibit, “Service and Safety – The National Ski Patrol”, contains numerous artifacts of interest to all skiers and snowboarders including one of the two oldest rescue toboggans in the State of Vermont. The exhibit opened in November and will run until October of 2016. More information about the exhibit can be found at the museum website http://www.vtssm.com/news/412-coming-this-fall.